Watcher's Web

Watcher's Web Chapter 15

Now she felt guilty. He was right about one thing: it was true that she didn’t know much about this world. She sat back down on the mattress and glared angrily into the dark, her arms folded over her chest.

Well then, maybe he should tell her. Whose fault was it that she didn’t know much anyway?

She let out a forceful breath.

Acting like a spoilt teenager was not the answer either. She hadn’t exactly been friendly to him, and maybe he hadn’t been sure how much he could tell her. Perhaps he suspected she might not be what she seemed to be either. And maybe he had a whole lot more to teach her than the Pengali could. She could at least speak to him and find out what he was willing to share.

When he returned in the morning, she would apologise to him, and from then on, she would not let his arrogance rile her so much.

But when he swept into the room in the morning, apologies were long forgotten.

"Time to get up." The heels of his boots sounded like gunshots on the stone floor.

Jessica groaned, rolling on her back and staring into the semidarkness. All her muscles ached and felt stiff from the hard mattress. "Is it light outside?"

He flipped on the light, which shone mercilessly in her face.

"It is light now."

He now looked even less like a faded hippie. His hair rippled over his shoulders like mercury. He wore, of all things, a thick fur cloak—in this heat! The medallion he had shown her yesterday was now prominently displayed on his chest. He also wore earrings, golden loops through his earlobes. He looked in his element, groomed, comfortable.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Well enough." But even as she said this, a wave of fatigue engulfed her.

He raised his eyebrows. "You look tired."

Look tired? She was tired. Damn Pengali, damn different days, damn everything. Her whole body was out of whack, but she was not going to crumple and let him play the knight in shining bloody armour. "I’m all right."

"I’ve brought some breakfast and you better eat it quickly. We have a lot to do today."

"Doing what?"

She stumbled to her feet and followed him into the living room, where a bowl stood on the table. Some sort of translucent noodles.

He explained while she ate.

"I had some excellent results yesterday. I used some of my contacts in town, and I’m fairly confident I’ll be able to get you out."

"You mean—take me home?"

"It will be the first step, but we’re not there yet."

Jessica took a bite. Noodles dangled down her chin. "So what comes first?"

"I have to apply for a permit for you to leave town, and that isn’t as easy as it sounds, because you have no documents and the entire town is looking for you. So obviously you will have to travel in some sort of disguise, and I think I’ve found a solution. But first you need to be made presentable, and you need to learn to behave in a way fitting to the personality your documentation will say you are."

Geez, he was speaking in legalese. "And that is?"

"As my wife."

Fucking what?

"Traders’ wives travel with their husbands, often under the same licence, and unless they plan to travel separately, they don’t need their own documentation. However, Traders’ wives are refined women. Polite, educated, softly spoken, cultured."